Liberty Ships
by Terranallias
Summary: Since the end of the Second Weltkrieg the Axis powers thought they were free to reshape the world in their image, they thought they had crushed the spirit of freedom and democracy with an iron boot, they think that the United States is no more, and on the 15th anniversary of VA day, they think the war is over, but they're dead wrong.
1. Chapter 1

Western Pacific  
1945  
Last Stand of the United States Pacific Fleet

"Oh my god... I lost...?"

On the shattered bridge of a battleship, the personification of the USS Iowa was slumped over a broken radar console, spoke in a voice filled with numb shock and disbelief. Not that any of her crew would have been able to see or hear her if they'd still been present.

Bloodied and bruised, she'd seen better days. Her left eye was blackened and swollen shut. Cuts and scrapes covered Iowa's body and her gray clothing was in tatters. One hand clutched the gaping wound in her right side. Oily blood leaked from between her fingers to fall towards the deck, but always vanished before it landed.

The spirit's wounds mirrored the ones on her battered hull. Iowa could feel the icy chill of sea water as it gushed through rents as she continued to sink into the blue-green sea. It was only a matter of time until she rested at the bottom of the deep dark ocean.

"Aw shit. We fucking lost didn't we. How about that." She tried to laugh, but it hurt too much. So all Iowa got was a weak cough that tasted faintly of oil.

The so-called 'annihilation shells' of the Imperial Japanese Navy's battleships had torn through even Iowa's thick armor belt with ease. Still, she'd fought on. Until a shell from Nagato's 41-centimeter guns had penetrated into the magazine of Iowa's forward main turret, setting off the ammunition. It was only by a miracle that it'd only blown a massive hole in her deck and not blown her bow away. A wave of exhaustion hit Iowa, and she shook her head, fighting it off.

Even up on the bridge, the air was thick with the stench of blood and burning materials. Oil. Steel. Wood. And while the sounds of battle might have all but vanished, they'd been replaced with those of its aftermath.

The creaking and groaning of metal. The cracking of fires. The sounds of men trapped in her hull admits blasted metal and broken planking. Their screams of agony and cries for their mothers. Iowa's blue eyes squeezed back tears.

She was helpless to do anything for them or the men outside on the water. Though shattered bridge windows stained black with smoke, Iowa watched Zeros dive down to shred survivors on burned husks of Hellcats and B-52's. Or the handful of lifeboats that hadn't managed to be picked up by the fragmented remnants of the US fleet as they'd retreated. But most of the fighter-planes' efforts were concentrated on any large bits of flotsam and jetsam that any survivors might have clung to.

The horizon was splashed with oily columns of black smoke, sprouting up from the funeral pyres of other American warships. And, Iowa knew, a few Japanese ones. But too few. Far too few.

Movement drew Iowa's eyes to her last sister, the battered USS Missouri. Japanese planes circled around the ship like vultures over a dying animal. Yet none fired on her and the Missouri was not firing at them.

Despite the growing haze that filled Iowa's mind, she wondered what the meaning of this was. Did the IJN intend to board her sister by force and take her as a prize? Or had frantic desperation forced Missouri's captain to negotiate some sort of surrender? She had no way of knowing. Her hulls' power was fading and her radio receivers were out.

Iowa closed her eyes and fought off the wave of despair that threatened to swallow her. The last year had been disastrous. The Allies had been pushed out of Europe, Africa and Asia by armies backed up by mechanical monstrosities. The Panama Canal had been bombed by a Japaneses attack, cutting the US Atlantic and Pacific fleets off from each other. Then President Roosevelt had succumbed to a heart attack. Now only a handful of ships remained to stand between the Axis and America's coastlines.

She kept hope though, that at the very least that America would find a way to persevere through these dark times.

A thought struck Iowa then. She might not be able to receive messages because of battle damage, but she could still send them.

"Don't give up. Keep the American dream alive... do you hear me... we can't do this without you. ...Goodbye... everyone." She telegraphed to the surviving American ships that'd been ordered to retreat after the battle took a turn for the hopeless.

With that, the strength of her legs at last gave way. Slipping off the console, Iowa collapsed to the deck. As darkness faded in around her, the last sound Iowa heard was the droning of approaching Japaneses torpedo bombers as the planes set up for their attack run on her.

The nature of her message and the identity of it's sender would baffle researchers for decades.


	2. Chapter 2

Iowa County, Iowa, New American Order, February 22nd, 1962

Several large German trucks and APCs burst through the rusted gates of an old pre war military base in order to reclaim it for the Reich. Hundreds of men and several automated war machines were then dispensed from these vehicles and onto the broken concrete overrun with vegetation. Soon into their probing investigation of the state and utility of American infrastructure, a random underling taking a piss would accidentally stumble upon a secret entrance to an underground portion of the base not found on the maps. The higher authorities would be notified.

Several hours later, command was swiftly taken over by SS division. Jorg Wolfflin stepped out of his Kubelwagen and was met with a salute from his underlings as he responded in kind. Among the passengers were ten SS soldiers clad in black body armor and face concealing stalheims, each of them were armed with MP60s good for clearing out rooms in close quarters.

"When somebody somewhere finds something strange or dangerous, they call us to investigate. Command has reason to believe that the Americans were working on an experimental weapon down below, what it is, they did not say. My hypothesis, an undetonated atomic bomb that never got to strike the Fatherland, so our goal is too find it, dismantle it, and report back if we find anything, verstanden." Wolfflin brief to the SS task force.

With a swift "sir yes sir", the task force climbed down the hole and into the bunker, the first thing they reported was a storage room filled to the brim with empty boxes and barrels, marked for steel, oil, bauxite and ammunition. Nothing out of the ordinary yet, as this was the first thing the private saw as well. However off to the side was a passageway that went deeper into its facility,

The SS soldiers advanced further down the concrete corridors, having wandered into what was once a lab space. Carefully searching each room, they found nothing of value other than office supplies, lab supplies and illegible files. The only items that gave away anything were shredded scraps of paper headlined with something called, "Project Liberty". Given the times the bunker was built in, it was most certainly a weapons development project

The halls led them to a central atrium absolutely packed with complex machines, each serving an unknown purpose. At the very center was a large pod not unlike the pods super soldats are manufactured and stored, inside various slots were numerous objects that have no place in bioengineering, such as shrapnel, a captain hat, medals, and even an American flag. It was impossible to know what the Americans were trying to achieve, far all they know they could've assembled all this in the very last days of the war when Axis forces were right on top of them, and just prayed for a miracle.

The corporal of the squad shined a flashlight into the dusty window and came face to face with a comatose woman. The corporal, reported this and received instructions, pull the body out of the freezer container, if she is alive, bring her in for questioning, if she was dead, bring her in for experimentation. After fiddling with the controls one of the soldier was able to find the activate on button and took a step back, joining the rest of them in raising their MP60s in case she was hostile or uncooperative.

"It was a strange sensation having a mind but no form." Pondered Iowa. her hull was still on the bottom of the Pacific yet she still felt submerged in the deep blue ocean. It was a struggle holding on to her mind for so long, how long has it been anyway? It felt like it could be mere moments and at the same time it also felt like year. Suddenly, she felt a tug on her soul, was her spirit finally being put to rest? As the pull became stronger, Iowa slowly regained the sense of feeling, she became overwhelmed with sensations she had only heard about. This meant one thing and one thing only, her time on Earth isn't finished, she was still needed in the fight.

The strange machine released 6 loud clunks as it was slowly being unlocked, the woman inside began to stir awake. The soldiers noticed this braced even harder for what might come out. Once the process finished, the door swung open and released Iowa from her tomb, without any prior training or assistance, she fell uselessly from her standing position onto the floor. Having fully emerged fully formed, she at least had the sense and strength to start picking herself up when another one of the German soldiers shouted at her to stay down and kicked her in the face. She looked up, and saw a black, heavily armored man, as he raised his foot for a stomp, she noticed the distinct armband with the black diagonal swastika. As the boot came down, Iowa quickly grasped his shin, and squeezed hard, shattering his tibia into six pieces. The Nazi screamed as Iowa muttered "Nazi scum" every letter was filled with poison.

As she launched upward, the crippled Nazi was shoved on to the ground onto his back, she lunged forward to stop on his chest, crushing his rib-cage and several internal organs. After overcoming their shock, the other soldiers opened fire with their Machine Pistols, but to very little effect as the low caliber rounds merely bounced off her skin. She grabbed the barrel of one of their guns, pulling him forward within reach of her wild haymaker, the impact of the superhuman punch was enough to knock him out and induce brain trauma in one hit.

Once the gun was liberated from Nazi hands, she pressed the gun into the temple of a 3rd Nazi who couldn't get away in time and held down the trigger, with the average helmet's ineffectiveness at close range, his brains were splattered all over the insides in seconds. When they started firing again she lifted the dead Nazi, pulled one of his tesla grenades and threw him at his former comrades, when they set off, two of them were too stunned to get out of the way and were caught in the shock.

It was too much for their bodies as they exploded into a mess of gore. She started strafing to her left, however, SMGs were ineffective against the Nazi's heavy armor, as it took up to ten shots to puncture it, as well as another 5 to actually kill them. Iowa couldn't concentrate her fire, after ten seconds of spraying and praying the gun ran dry, forcing her to throw it at one of their heads, disorienting him. She bull-rushed the dazed Nazi, grabbed him and slammed him into the nearest wall so hard he was lodged into the concrete, shattering his spine as she punched him in the throat for good measure.

After taking his gun and reloading with a fresh magazine, she made sure to properly aim. After picking a lone one on the far right side she pulled the trigger and walked forward, unable to reach cover in time he was subsequently overwhelmed and succumbed to the fire, 15 bullets left. The rest had hidden behind the room's machinery, with no grenades on this one, she sprinted forward towards the sides of the machinery and did her best home run slide. The last 15 rounds quickly tore into their flanks and wounded one of them, leaving them to bleed. She grabbed another magazine from one of his pouches and reloaded.

This was too much for one of them two as they got up and fled down to the closest corridor. The other however, tried to poke his head from cover, only to receive a bullet in the eye for his troubles. She followed the survivor down the corridor, she wasn't planning on shooting him however, only a Nazi would shoot the helpless. She found him cowering next to a vault of some sort, she picked him up by the collar and politely but assertively asked him some questions.

"Where the fuck am I? What the fuck is going on? What the fuck am I?"

There was no response, he had become a gibbering wreck to the point of uselessness, so she casually tossed him aside, not caring for his well-being. She instead decided to go after what's inside the vault, unlike her chamber, it was unlocked. She ducked inside and attached to a steel frame were three 16 inch guns attached to a set of waldo arms on a back brace, and about 20 shells. She recognized them, these were her guns back on her old ship form. She grabbed from the straps and slung it on, as she did so she could feel all 212k horses coursing all over her body, she can hear little voices in her head telling her that all her systems were running, engines, weapons, her crew were ready to go.

She had found the exit and clambered up the ramp, and kicked down the door separating her from the fight. She was greeted by a whole battalion of Nazi forces, alongside some more sophisticated versions of the mechanical monstrosities from Europe she had only heard about. One of their commandants saw this and was quick to order her surrender. She raised her arms up into the air, luring her opponents into a false sense of security, only to lower them again and making finger guns with her hands

"Fire" was her only response.

She turned her batteries to face each of the mechanical monstrosities, three blasts rang out as 406 mm shells sailed the short distance dead center into the German robots, the massive shells over penetrated the tank grade armor detonated on the other side of the base, but the damage was critical as they ignited into a blaze of energy and shrapnel. Several Nazis caught in the blast died near instantly from the heat and shrapnel tore in to their flesh.

The Germans opened fire, but with her rigging out, she was all but invulnerable to even the heaviest weapons as hundreds of rounds ricochet off her flesh. With this in mind she sprinted into the fray, the Nazis still fired straight and true, they didn't know what kind of symbol of American might they would tangle with. She picked one hapless grunt and winded up a straight blow directly into his skull, it's enough to launch him into the air and to concave his skull, killing him instantly. Next she delivered several roundhouse kicks to several nearby Nazis, cracking their ribs, breaking their legs, and inducing brain trauma.

Once routed, Iowa pulled out looted SMG's and once again held the triggers, not worrying about ammunition since every 10 seconds her fairies would add a fresh magazine. She tried to keep professional, but she can't help but smile as a total of 4 rounds a second tore into Nazi armor and flesh. She was having fun with her new body now that she can fight up close and personal rather than from beyond the horizon.

She heard a buzzing noise from behind her, a pair of flying drones started their strafing run and fired a flurry of laser blasts, which actually provided some scorch marks on her hull. "Holy fuck that actually hurts." She thought, recognizing the threat she jumped up and knocked it out of the sky, grasping it in her hand and crushing it with the other. With her other SMG hand she quickly shot it down with burst fire.

She ducked into the behind one of the barracks and emerged behind one of the APCs, she lifted into the air and launched at one of the closer groups of Nazis. Unfortunately, most of them moved out of the way except one, who was quickly flattened by the weight of an armored vehicle. Dissatisfied, she launched a 5 inch shell into the APC, igniting the ammunition and utterly destroying the vehicle. This happened far too quick for the others to escape.

The Nazi forces were halved now, the rest of the battle was almost a blur as Iowa tore across the field, leaping from point to point, spinning to cover all fronts and throwing heavy objects to wound or disorient her foes. At one point she had ran out of ammunition for her guns, so rather than picking up more, she felt particularly brutal and elected to bash their heads in with them, and when those broke she went back to old fashioned fisticuffs. There wasn't much the Nazis could do against a bullet proof monstrosity coming down on them like a freight train hellbent on ending their lives. Soon, there was nobody left, once she was done she absorbed her rigging into... well somewhere in her body. No longer did she feel the engines, the oil, the weight or the little tiny voices in her head.

With every other Nazi dead or dying, the only one left was the commandant who had hid inside of the trunk of the Kubelwagen as soon as shells started flying. She tore it open and pulled him out onto the tarmac as he tried ineffectually to be released. She dragged him towards one of the nearby buildings, but before she can set foot in one of them she found him attempting to remove his coat so he could escape. Grabbing his throat instead of the color put an end to that plan.

She continued pulling him inside a medical clinic and slammed him onto one of the tables next to the soft beds without bothering to clear it of debris, along the way she found some old rope and tied him to the legs, Iowa didn't want the prisoner of war to escape, she wanted answers and she wanted them now.

"I'm going to ask you a few questions, you are going to answer them, and if I don't find them satisfactory I will beat the crap out of you with rusty tetanus inducing equipment, do you understand?" Iowa demanded.

"Do YOU understand who I am? I am an SS Obergruppenführer, resistance rats like you tremble at my feet. Just because an unter-" Before he could continue Iowa slammed a fist onto his knee caps, Jorg gritted his team in pain.

"Oh so there's a resistance is there, will you kindly tell me where I can the the US military?" Iowa said more kindly this time, in an attempt to unnerve him.

"What kind of stupid question is that? The United States lost, they surrendered to the might of the Aryan race." Jorg had said offhandedly. He got a broken elbow in return.

"Don't bullshit me! I have enough strength to break your clavicles with two fingers right fucking now, so tell me... Where is the US military!" Upon raising her voice she pulled him from his restraints and threw him against the nearest wall. Jorg finally broke in order to prevent any more bone breaking

"I'm telling the truth, the war ended 15 years ago when we bombed the country, America is no more." He said desperately.

Iowa at this point was really tired, angry and frustrated at what seemed to be such a bold faced lie, from her perspective she was sunk just a short while ago and even more recently got kicked in the face. So she impulsively reared back her head and head butted the Nazi, multiple times.

After taking out her frustrations, she released her prisoner and subsequently slumped against the wall. She had removed her rigging as it vanished somewhere in order to fit into the building, so she was unsure about his current health, not that she cared.

After checking to see if he was still moving she wandered around the base looking for anything useful, in the clinic she had found rusty tetanus inducing tools, expired medicine and medical records of men whose fates are unknown. However in the back of the office were the nurses offices, while she found nothing but old and dusty furniture she saw an equally old and dusty wooden trunk. She cracked it open with her bare hands to find and old yet well preserved blue dress among other items of clothing like a sunhat. She quickly slipped it on figuring she needed something less conspicuous to sneak across enemy lines.

There wasn't nothing else in the trunk that was inherently useful, but she reached deep down and found a set of mementos. Photos, old mementos, and relatively intact yet aged gifts like flowers, letters and candy. Iowa muses that the Nazis attacked before these could be shared. It felt rude to grab these things, but she didn't know if their recipients are still alive to reclaim them. She decided to just leave them there as some memorial, stolen clothing aside.

With nothing else in here that she's willing to take, she exited the clinic and deployed her radio, she tweaked a little knob on her metallic hat.

"Broadcasting all units, this is the USS Iowa, there was a minor complication in the Pacific but I'm back and ready to kick some Nazi ass." There was no immediate response, she then started again. "This is the USS Iowa, please respond, I am most likely deep behind enemy lines and need assurance in combat effectiveness." She then got into contact with an active signal, but as soon as she could hear voices, it snapped off and was replaced with a cold mechanical voice speaking German.

" _Security breach in SS communications detected, scrambling units to interloper position."_

Iowa quickly hung up. She roamed the rest of the base looking for any useful materials, picking up all the fallen Nazi's guns and anything she could find in the armory. She went back to the Kubelwagen and found the keys still in the ignition. As she turned the ignition, she realized she doesn't actually know how to drive. "Well I just figure it out on the way." She shrugged. After a few false starts, she was finally able to figure out the new fangled automatic transmission and peeled out of the battle site and through the exit. She reached the main road, and randomly chose to left. She didn't know where she was going, but it didn't matter, she had a war to win.


	3. Chapter 3

Iowa had been driving around aimlessly through the rural back roads of the state of Iowa for a good hour. Along the way she saw the Nazi convoy from the other side of the field most likely headed for the base when they failed to report back. She eventually reached a proper road sign once she knew the general direction of the main road, but it was strange and unfamiliar, She could recognize the wording for Des Moines, but not the signs marking the route. Rather than a black and white shield, it was a blue square directing her to something called an autobahn.

"An Autobahn? What the heck is an autobahn? What kind of kraut speak is that? And who the heck just decides to install road signs during an invasion? She thought.

She can only guess how far they pushed into the country, since they already act like they owned the place and she's smack dab in the middle of her namesake. That fact made Iowa worry, if the Nazis made it all the way to America's heartland, and the Japanese having most likely made a landing, was the United States losing, or dare she say it, truly fallen like the SS officer said. She violently shoved those thoughts aside, this was no time for quitter talk.

It couldn't have been too long, it's only been several hours from her perspective since she sank in the Pacific, even if she was asleep for a little bit longer than that she could still find the US forces holed up in the rockies or the great reached the entrance of the highway and was astonished at how fast they must've built these limited access invasion corridors. As she drove down the freeway, she couldn't help but think about the Nazi's claims as she saw more and more civilian cars on the road, as if there wasn't a war going on. Otherwise they would be bound by the fuel gritted her teeth, the USA had to have survived somehow, maybe it was a rump nation in Colorado, an isolated city state in Delaware, hell even a government in exile on the Moon would be sufficient for her needs, anything that she can report too.

As she rounded the bend and traveled over the slope, she expected to see Des Moines, and it's Chicago school buildings, but in its place was a monstrosity. The city was filled with large, brutal, concrete blocks which tore into the evening sky, massive banners celebrating the German Reich were draped over the sides of the largest towers in downtown. While she was gone, they tore down the entire city and in their wake created a massive blight on the Great Plains. Iowa didn't want to believe it at first, but she could no longer deny the reality, the Nazis won. She could only choke out a laugh, she didn't whether to feel sad, humbled, resigned, shocked or angry. She tried to focus her thoughts into that of anger, she can't afford to succumb to her turmoil.

"Oh my god, what have they done with you." Iowa said, having barely worked up the composure to even gasp. Here placed in plain view in front of her, was a world burnt to the ground to satisfy their inflated egos and molded the ashes into an effigy of their false superiority. She was getting closer to the city now, as forests and fields gave way to factories and houses, she muttered this under her breath.

"You bastards. I promise you this, I will finish what I started and make things right again. I'll do what I was built to do."

She mindlessly drove deeper into the city, she didn't know why or what for, but right now it was as good a place as any. The highway transitioned to city streets by way of not knowing where the ramps go. As she was descending the ramp and turned through the junction, the military car ran out of gas and coasted into a gas station. Unfortunately, Iowa had no money so she couldn't refuel it and keep going, she would have to walk the rest of the way.

Hoping to avoid detection she used the hood of the car to go over the wall and avoid any and all observation. She found herself in the backyard of a row of terraced houses, it must've been a weekday because she could see that on both sides that they were devoid of life. All there was is an abandoned swing set and an unused clothes rack. She lurked around hopping fences hoping to find a way around and make it to the street. On her way she walked past an open window sill occupied by a housewife, who looked at her with suspicion.

"Oh sorry, just trying to find a shortcut, didn't mean to trespass." Iowa said, trying to reassure the doting housewife.

"Just get the heck out of here before I call the police, you no good deviant." She spat out.

"Okay fine I'm leaving, jeez." After swiftly leaping over more fences she muttered to herself. "Is this how you treat the hero of America?"

She hurried her way into a side alley towards the street, and aside from a Nazi soldier on the street corner to her right, it was also as empty as the back. She didn't want to attract attention to herself just yet, and she managed to slink away without being spotted. She would later reach a much more busy road filled with crowds of people, parked cars, stalls, and Nazis. She wondered what the commotion was all about, at least she could eavesdrop on people and try to find any sign of resistance amongst Americans. The sound of jet engines above drew her attention to a closed off street.

The street was clear of traffic, and most pedestrians were clustered around various booths on the sidewalks. She walked up to one of them, as she craned her neck to see through the crowd, she could see that it was a food booth. She was starting to get a little bit hungry, but she was reminded that she had no money on her, and she doubted they accepted American dollars now. She was about to leave when she overheard a conversation off to the side. Next to a parked car was a pair of young men talking about movies. She would have ignored it but something caught her attention, and warranted tuning in.

"So did you catch the new episode of brother knows best? The one guest starring the fuhrer?"

"Sure did, and can you believe that the Sandersons were actually hidden Jews the entire time?"

"Eh, it was foreshadowed since the beginning of the season."

"I'm just glad that in this day and age television is allowed to openly talk about these things, back in the old days controversial content would've been shut down by the Jewish hell hole in Hollywood. What do they make nowadays?"

Iowa contorted her face in disgust at how casually they were able to talk about this. It would seem that they already gotten to America's youth, they would've been in diapers by the time the war ended. She walked away before they might attempt to hit on her, aside from politics she was still trying to figure out being Human. She carried on down the sidewalk hiding behind throngs of people away from prying eyes. Surely the older people, those who grew up in the old republic would think differently? Just as she finished that thought, she noticed a commandant leaning against an old Volkswagen, talking to a redhead women.

"I am truly thankful for what you nice Germans have done for this country. After all, you brought peace, jobs and purity to our great country."

"That's good to hear Fraulein Jamie, and to think I was suspecting that the loyalty of America was beginning to waver.."

"Fucking quislings. She must've never had pride in the first place if she was so willing to suck up to the Nazis." Iowa thought to herself.

Finally she passed by an outdoor cafe, most of its attendants were inside the building awaiting food. One of them had gotten a container full of chicken salad greeting an older women with excitement and was almost jumping up and down with joy.

"I just got the letter from Internal affairs, they just approved our marriage!" Said the young one.

Aside from the implication of marriage being run through a bureaucracy, it was still nice to see something actually sweet in this world.

"I got some great news too, I was able to buy some slaves at the auction. They could help serve at the reception.

Iowa almost choked on the air she was breathing. "Didn't we fight a civil war over that a century ago?" She asked herself. Iowa left the premises, she had seen everything.

Iowa was at a loss for words, how could the American people be so accepting towards Nazi oppression? What happened to the proud freedom loving people who through their support when Japan invaded, then were repelled from Hawaii? Were they simply too afraid to fight back, after all every street corner is stationed by a scary dude in a face concealing helmet with a big assault rifle. The commotion from down the street grew louder and louder as she walked closer to the source. The crowd had filled up the street behind a metal barricade separating civilians from a military parade, filled with hundreds of soldiers goose stepping down the road. This was her chance to show America they had nothing to fear anymore, as she forced her way through the crowd she was face to face with a soldier, guarding the perimeter.

"The roads closed citizen, your going to have to find another way."

Iowa merely rolled her eyes and wrested the assault rifle from his hands and swung it against his face, knocking him out cold. The crowd started running away from Iowa in a mad panic.

"Don't be afraid, I am here to help you. I can get the ball running but only you can do your part in restoring America." Iowa shouted at the top of her lungs.

Turning around she saw the military start to funnel through the street with the intent to stop a terrorist attack, so much for igniting igniting the fires of revolution. Iowa summoned her rigging as quickly as possible before she could find out if she was bullet proof without it. Nine sixteen inch guns sprouted out of her back, training on the massed forces. However, Iowa didn't intend to use it just yet, supplies were scarce and she couldn't afford to burn through ammo.

Instead she opened fire on the horde of Nazi soldiers, with an assault rifle on one hand and an SMG in the other. She slowly advanced towards the Nazi horde as high caliber rounds ricochet off her metal skin. When the STG 60 ran out of bullets, she threw it as hard as she can at the nearest Nazi, which got lodged inside of his windpipe. She replaced the missing assault rifle with another SMG, Iowa sprayed them both left and right, wounding and killing many soldiers. However it became more apparent that the entire Germany military was going to be dropped on her, so she decided to get a lot more confrontational.

She ran forward at full speed, slamming into the pack head on. Many of which nearly died upon impact as a battleship the size of a person rammed them at nearly 40 miles per hour. Iowa was able to blitz all the way into the middle of the formation until she got bogged down in all the Nazis trying to grab and dog-pile her. This did nothing to slow her down as she dropped on her back, crushing those below her under the weight of a battleship, breaking the concrete. She launched herself upward, throwing those that managed to get on top off of her.

Surrounded on all sides by Nazis, she lunged forward and committed to a double haymaker, smashing a pair of bucket heads into each other, and crushing them between her hands. The Nazi forces began to back away as it slowly dawned on them how ineffective their weapons were against a battleship, and admittedly she was having fun. As she kicked, punched and shot her way through the Nazis, several robots stomped around the corner, charging their weapons. Iowa didn't need to worry as she dispatched them with ease using her smaller guns, spreading shrapnel and molten battery acid among her foes. She knew herself to be an unstoppable juggernaut, or at least she did until a fairy buzzed by her ear.

"Wait, what do you mean I'm running out of fuel."

"So this is what we're reduced too? Pixie dust and voodoo as defense policy? Cried a scientist.

"If you read the intelligence retrieved from the SS paranormal division Kenneth, you'd know that the Germans have been experimenting with something called the black sun dimension. Details are sketchy, but what came out of Germany is terrifying, zombies, magic medallions, the spear of longinus and demons. Answered another researcher

The Axis has been kicking our ass since Pearl Harbor and this is what we're working on? Not better weapons, vehicles or technology, no we're working with freaking magic?!' Was the reply.

"What do we have to lose? We're throwing everything we have against the walls to see what sticks, what does it matter if one of them is a magic wand."

After hearing the status report, Iowa fell back several blocks as fast as she can before could be vulnerable to small arms fire. She bought herself time by unlocking the .50 cal AA guns and fired at anything that came her way. The nearby streets were abandoned by now, the only thing that filled them were her, a whole Nazi regiment and their deceased. A few times a tank or mech would try to flank her, they got several 5 inch shells for their troubles. When she was forced to retract her rigging, they started firing underslung rocket launchers at her. Iowa hid behind a car, and lifted it's rear above her head to use as makeshift cover.

She dragged the car as it was being pelted by bullets into a nearby alleyway, and closed it off allowing her to escape. Unfortunately a pair of heavy troopers was there to greet her, each armed with automatic shotguns spraying shrapnel shells in her general direction. Iowa winced in pain as the metal scratched across her skin, leaving long streaks on her arms and face. Iowa grabbed a trash can, while providing minimal cover, allowed her to close the distance. She managed to wrest the shotgun from one one of them and shoved it under his chin, blowing his head off entirely. She bashed the shotgun into the other soldier's chest, causing him to stumble into a wall. Iowa finished him off shortly afterwards.

With dual automatic shotguns in hand, she turned and entered a nearby building. Inside was the packing section of a grocery store, and Iowa made it just in time time to see several more Nazis enter through the front entrance clearing house. She was spotted as she entered the shopping floor, and ducked behind a stack of canned bratwurst as bullets whizzed by her ears. Through a mirror in the corner, she could track their movements as they advanced along both left and right aisles behind her. The aisle on her right had half as many Nazis as the aisle on her left, so she chose the path of heaviest resistance and spun to her left, holding down the triggers.

Buckshot and shrapnel began to fill the aisle, tearing into flesh, armor and non perishable goods alike. Iowa rushed through the the next aisle, not even checking to see whether or not they died or not. She had to keep moving, if she slowed down for one second they would catch up to her and exploit her vulnerability. After finishing off a few more Nazis at the checkout, she peaked out the front window to a ton of Nazis and machines patrolling the streets outside.

"Are you kidding me?" Iowa was internally exasperated at this point. There was no possible way she could take them all on in her current state, and she didn't have the fuel to deploy her rigging for more than a few seconds. Then, she had an idea. After probing the store, she found a set of stairs that climbed to the upper floors. They were far less quiet than any other previous location, as she heard the sounds of hushed voices. They heard the violence down below and didn't want to perish in the crossfire. She considered consoling them but thought it best they knew nothing that they would be interrogated for.

Iowa kicked the door to the roof open, the sky was filled with police helicopters and drones. Not wanting to give them the chance to spot her, she took a running start and leapt off the roof. She deployed her rigging right before she hit the ground. The street couldn't handle the sudden introduction to 45,000 tons of battleship and quickly collapsed soon afterwards, a loud bang shook the city block. As the dust settled, Iowa found herself in the middle of an exposed storm pipe, and was could she that she was surrounded by overturned machines, injured soldiers and a crater that used to be Walnut Street. Amidst all the chaos, she was able to not get shot long enough to climb out of the hole and escape.

-  
So this is all we have left of these ships? I thought we'd be get something more substantial to work with. Said Kenneth.

"They were sunk in open ocean, this is all they could carry on the lifeboats and flotsam. I did tell you we were going to do some weird stuff." Answered Doctor Miller.

Right, so when will the "special personnel arrive"? He asked.

"Very shortly, it took a long time to get it without doing anything unspeakable."  
-

It was not long until she was able to find a working car, the owner clearly left in a hurry because the engine was still running, the door was left ajar and the keys were still in the ignition. As soon as she sat down in the driver's seat., bullets flew into the car, shattering the rear window and broke off the rear view mirror. Iowa pressed down on the accelerator as hard as possible tires spun as gunfire began to concentrate on the car before she sped down the street. She tapped into her radio room in order to tune into the police frequency to evade the search. There wasn't as many cops down south, leaving it a relatively open route for escape.

As she tried driving out of the city, the streets were slowly becoming more and more filled with people. She swerved onto another street whenever she saw SS round up and interrogate the civilians. Iowa soon found herself on the SW 3rd street bridge, where she was met with SS police cruisers bearing down her path. They turned to the side and formed a quick roadblock to obstruct the road. She veered the car to the right in an attempt to slip through the barricade. The car grinded against the concrete barrier as it slammed into the front quarter of the police vehicle. The car had enough weight and momentum to keep going without slowing, but the impact had quickly started to hamper the vehicle as it was that much harder to steer. With the path clear, and only scattered police forces ahead, she was able to find her way out of the city and away from the eyes of the Nazis.

She temporarily got lost trying to stick to the side roads rather than any major highway, but the scanners were at the very least quiet. Iowa sat back and reflected on her previous battle, but as the adrenaline wore off she felt a quick sting of pain. A fairy crawled out of nowhere to inform her that there was about a dozen bullets lodged into her back, and that they were currently extracting it. The entire boondoggle was a wake up call for her, she was once again reminded that she isn't invincible. The biggest baddest battleship of the United States Navy was again driven out by overwhelming odds. Without fuel and ammunition she was pretty much useless by herself, even if logistics weren't an issue, any victory would be temporary as they would just come back and retake the area.

She needed to find allies, resistance groups, politicians and maybe, just maybe other ships just like her. Her mind lingered on that last part, she didn't know she didn't know how she came to be after her destruction. But if she's here, maybe there are others in the same situation all over the country too. A new spark ignited inside of her, one that would give the restoration of America a chance. For the first time since she woke up, Iowa had an actual concrete plan.


	4. Chapter 4

Iowa decided to keep going south until she reached Missouri, and the city of St Louis. After all, last she saw one of her sisters she was still seaworthy. The rest of them however were still a mystery, as they were trapped in the Atlantic when the Panama Canal was flooded. The idea was that she would find her in her namesake state, just like how she woke up in Iowa, maybe if she was lucky she would snag a light cruiser too. She'll make sure to swing by through Illinois, Wisconsin, Kentucky and finally New Jersey.

The sun was beginning to set over the Great Plains, Iowa had been driving towards a general southern direction for several hours now. She got lost on the back roads trying to avoid the major highways now that the Nazi's know that she exist. In the meantime she's been broadcasting an encrypted radio broadcast hoping that Missouri would pick up. On several occasions she would pick up a Nazi frequency and was forced to shut it off just as quick.

Iowa was about to take a break and find a place to hide for the night when her radio picked up a distress signal. She focused the frequency and found an actual homegrown resistance channel hidden in a nearby town. Well, it _was_ hidden.

"...they just breached the perimeter, Nazis are swarming all over the lobby. Nick keep firing at the- Oh shit, Marcus."

Iowa considered her options, she didn't have the ammo or the fuel to fight a Nazi parade and after going through most of it, she didn't have the fuel or ammo now. She thought about how unprepared she was back in Des Moines, and even further back with her last battle near the Philippines. But she reminded herself what she was built for, and why she was given a second chance. She tuned into the signal to drop a response.

"This is the USS Iowa, I'm here to provide naval support. What is your position?"

"I don't know what an old boat is doing out here in the middle of the country, but I'll humor you. We're going to die anyway so why not have a last laugh. We're in Plattsburg, about a mile south west from your signal boat girl.

As if on cue, she could already see a sign directing Iowa to her new destination. With a utter disregard for the rules of the road, she swerved right through the intersection in a wide curve. She had no time to waste, she wasn't going to screw up this time.

Iowa surveyed the town on her rangefinder, all main entrances were secured with checkpoints, and the perimeter was being patrolled by mechanical fire breathing dogs. There was no way she was getting through that on her lonesome. So she flipped over the car and breached the fuel tank, it wasn't a lot but it should by her a few precious seconds. While the few gallons in that remained were miniscule, her human form was a lot more efficient. She manually took aim, made a pretty good guess of the angles involved, and quickly deployed her rigging.

She fired the smaller cannons as much as she could before running out of fuel, two shots rang out and slammed into the fortified checkpoint. The armored vehicles that secured it went up into flames as an explosion replaced the front gate to Plattsburg, leaving behind a small crater in its wake. Satisfied, Iowa began to rip the car apart and consume it's metal to repair her hull. If there was anyone still alive to witness, they'd be very much freaked out. Her rigging retracted into her body, she was once again just a human as she pulled out two assault rifles from thin air, and began to sprint into town.

As she approached the devastated entrance, several straggles approached the crater, intent on investigating the commotion. They never got the chance to take a closer look as she gunned them down before dropping into the crater, going prone against the rim. Iowa could see a trio of Nazi soldiers further away take notice, so she flung a grenade at the middle of the group. When the grenade make direct contact with the middle one's foot, it detonated almost immediately, wiping them out from the explosion.

She wasn't going to bet on the ongoing assault keeping their attention from the explosion, so she leaped out of the crater and set off further into town, tuning into the resistance radio.

"I made it to Plattsburg, just tell me where the fire is and I can help you out." Said Iowa as she ran down the abandoned city street, she could hear swearing and the sounds of a struggle from the other end of the call. The female voice replied in shock upon hearing her again.

"Holy shit, I didn't think you were actually serious, how did you get through the blockade."

"They were nice enough to just let me in, all I had to say was please." Quipped Iowa.

"Haha very funny." The voice said sardonically. "Just follow the sounds of gunfire, the Nazis were nice enough to set up a smoke signal."

As Iowa rounded the corner, she spotted several parked APCs, enough to transport 50 soldiers, and more of the mechanical dogs from earlier. Without fuel she couldn't go in loud like before, and she could only assume that they brought only just enough Nazis to clear a resistance cell. She ducked into a nearby alleyway on her right before she could be spotted.

She creeped between the buildings and peered around the junction. Several Nazis were on the other end lounging by an old rusted mailbox, Iowa briefly considered going around them but the other path led to a dead end. She had no choice but to push through somehow.

Luckily she saw a collection of trash cans nearby, and got the idea of drawing their attention. She started to clash them together as loudly as possible, denting the lids in the process. The trio of Nazis was drawn into the alleyway by the ruckus. They never came out, as their windpipes were crushed, and their gear taken. Iowa sneaked out of the alley and around a temporary camp lined with prefab buildings, most of its current occupants were nurses, wounded and other non combatants.

She ignored them, they were easy targets just as much as they were no threat to her. Up ahead she could see a massive plume of smoke coming from the shattered remnants of the tank dogs. The wreckage rested at the foot to the entrance to a hotel, courtesy of a landmine that went off long before she got here. Gunfire was being fired in and out the windows from both sides. This was no doubt the local resistance base. She ducked behind a milk truck and radioed again.

"I made it, and I think I can see the problem, you're surrounded and there's no easy way in."

On the other end she could hear muffled gunfire, shouting, and an explosion which aligned with a heavy trooper firing a grenade launcher into one of the windows.

"I can fucking see that, are you going to keep pointing out the obvious or are you actually going to help us." She shouted over the radio.

"Just keep watch on the milk van down the street." With that, Iowa tore the rear doors open and clambered inside. Once in the driver's seat, she figured out how to hot-wire a car, shifted the gear into drive and got out just as she jammed a procured assault rifle into gas pedal. As the truck went off on it's own, Iowa began to follow suit. She pulled out two more assault rifles out of nowhere and held down the triggers, firing at both sides until the truck until it crashed into the back of a empty half track. A few were killed, many were wounded, but she was still surrounded.

Luckily the truck had provided a sufficient distraction that she had reached the destroyed hound. She quickly leaped behind it, swapping her rifles for a pair of shotguns and burst through the door. Iowa quickly found herself facing around a dozen Nazis, as soon as they turned to the intruder she started spraying buckshot in a fanning arc. She winced as she tried ignoring the bullets that began to be lodged into her skin. She questimated that she shot about ten guys before reaching cover behind a reception desk.

She landed right next to the bullet ridden body of the receptionist, with a double barrel shotgun caught in her death grip. As the fairies got to work removing the bullets a grenade was quickly thrown her way, she was forced to abandon cover as the more plentiful survivors from outside started pouring in through the doors. She grabbed an assault rifle and started firing at the door to stem the tide, gunning them down as they slipped past the slapdash kill-zone. The ammo ran out pretty quickly however, as there were only 20 rounds in the magazine, and only half of them were even wounded.

She tossed a pair of grenades at their general direction, and sprayed any potential stragglers with a spare SMG. Without looking at the casualties, she was forced up the stairs by survivors focusing their fire on her. She swapped them for a single shotgun and hit behind a corner as she heard them bound up the stairs. When they were half way up she spun around and blasted them, perforating their armor and causing their bodies to tumble down the stairs. The shogun would serve her needs in the close quarters of a hotel hallway.

She followed the sounds of gunfire above her as she cleared the halls looking for the staircase, blasting anyone in her path as any Nazi rounding the corners or exiting the rooms were quickly dispatched with ease. This patterned repeated for several more floors as she made sure more wouldn't sneak up behind her. By the time she reached the top floors she had more than a few bullets sticking out of her face. As she stomped her way up the stairs, the Nazis took notice of someone trying to attack from their rear and sent a few of their forces to intercept.

The first one to reach her was shot as soon as he entered, his mangled body stumbled, and ragdolled over the railing and down the stairwell. The second met a similar fate, but his corpse was slumped against the door, propping it open. The third one didn't even reach the doorway as Iowa shoulder checked him against the wall. As she pinned him against the wall a fourth one rounded the corner and got shot with the shockhammer several times for his troubles, before executing her captor from below the chin.

She dragged his remains against the wall and around the corner, as soon as she came into view she was immediately met with a hail of trigger happy Nazis. Bullets tore into the headless meat shield as she fired her assault rifle and advanced down the hall. With a full extended magazine she was able to quickly suppress them as any attempt to advance was met with gunfire, as one of the fallen can attest. However she suddenly flanked when a heavy trooper burst from one of the hotel rooms with an affixed bayonet.

The soldier had enough weight to knock her off balance, and push her through another door, stabbing her. Feeling satisfied in his casualty he attempted to pull the blade from her, however just as he planted his foot for leverage Iowa grabbed the barrel of the machine gun and kicked the Nazi off of her for leverage. She jammed her elbows into the floor, propelling her upwards as she planted her left foot and shoved him across the hall. With an MG-60 in hand she jammed the bayonet into his chest, breaking it in half after being shoved into two metallic objects.

She kicked him high in the chest, knocking him down in the opposite hotel room floor. Once on the ground she stomped on his face suddenly and hard enough to break his neck. Pulling back Iowa winced as she clutched the flesh wound on her side, damcom fairies told her that it didn't damage anything but it still hurts. She ripped off the heavy armor chest plate and chewed on it, providing her with the materials to patch the hole. The Nazis from around the corner had already noticed and begun advancing when she fell.

With the battery fed machine gun in tow she poured fire down the hall before they could react in time, and where cut down swiftly as high intensity lasers tore through armor and flesh, leaving them in a crumpled pile. When she rounded the corner she saw a group of Nazis successfully advance into what must be the presidential suite. Gunfire grew louder and louder when she entered as she saw them going up the stairs with the death of a defending machine gunner.

The defense was getting more intense, desperate and sporadic as the aimed to keep them from reaching the top. Iowa wouldn't give them the chance as she blitzed up the stairs holding down the triggers for all of ten seconds before overheating, then shutting down entirely from an empty battery, prompting her to drop the gun. The entire room was quiet as she took in her handiwork, the Nazis were shoved forward by the force of the machine gun, one of which was pushed out the window, having already died before hitting the ground. Outside her field of vision she could hear muffled chatter among the inhabitants.

"They stopped firing, somebody go check if the coast is clear" This was followed by brief arguing over who would potentially have to risk their life. She decided to make the first move.

"Hello!" She shouted. "I came as soon as I heard the distress call, all the Nazis are dead."

After a brief pause, some kid no older than 17 poked his head over the railing. She could see the shock on his face when he sees a young 6 feet women in a tattered blue dress surrounded by dead Nazis.

"Holy smokes! You did all this?" He exclaimed pointing out the obvious.

"All that and more." She beamed, while crossing her arms. "Who's in charge here?"

The boy was pulled from the railing by an unseen hand, in his place was a hispanic woman in an afro. She was just as surprised at the sudden appearance of the interloper.

"Holy shit, is that you boat girl? I thought you were just mocking us earlier, where's the rest of them? She asked.

"The rest of what? Oh you mean the backup. Well, what you see is what you get." Iowa boasted, spreading her arms to accentuate her presence.

"Oh for the love of…" the leader muttered to herself. "Whatever just, who are you anyway?"

"USS Iowa, BB-61, Iowa class, or just Iowa if you prefer." The other woman just looked at her incredulously as she walked up the steps, all eyes were now on the amazonian girl.

"Wow. You really are sticking with the navy thing aren't you boat girl. Were you even old enough to have served in the navy?

"You'd be surprised." Iowa snarked.

"Whatever, my name is Gloria Jebanez, and I'm the acting leader of the Free Plains Nation."

"Acting? What happened to the last guy." Asked Iowa, raising an eyebrow.

"When the Nazis came, Marcus was standing near the window, he was one of the first to die." Came the answer, there was a hint of sadness in her voice. "At the time I was just the radio operator, and as more fell chain of command fell to me."

"So what are you going to do now?"

"We already have a contingency for this very situation, because the HQ is compromised. When they fail to report back, more will come our way, so we need to gather our equipment and load it into the trucks as fast as possible."

"I can help with that, you could probably just sit back while I do everything if you'd like."

"Yeah sure, but go find some clothes first, you look like you walked out of a nuclear explosion."

As Iowa entered the untouched parts of the HQ, she saw men, women and children huddled against the walls with guns in their hands pointed at the staircase. Gloria informed them that the coast is clear and that they should put them down as she led her to the command center. Within the Faraday cage was a table with a map of North America laid out on it, numerous electronic devices, and shelves books regarding history and strategy.

She focused her attention on the map to get a good look at the current situation. The United States and Canada was broken in half between the Pacific States and the American Order, various symbols representing military bases, R&D facilities, and critical infrastructure were stamped all over it and and a swastika and rising sun representing the capitals in New York and San Francisco. What piqued her interest the most was a question mark in place of Washington.

"What's all this?" Iowa asked, hoping to squeeze out some info without looking like an idiot.

"This is the place where freedom rings, or at least that's what Marcus used to say. This is where we plan and coordinate missions with other resistance cells from all over the Great Plains, but for security reasons we don't know where they're located."

"What's going on in DC? Why wouldn't they set up shop in the capitol?" Iowa asked.

"They would've, if they hadn't turned it into a radioactive crater first." Came the response.

Radiation. Iowa was sure she heard of it from one of the sailors during the war, about how a French scientist poisoned herself with Radium in the name of science.

"They poisoned Washington?!" Iowa stood in shock, but she always wondered how they forced a surrender so quickly.

"They didn't just poison the city, they also blew it to pieces, set fire to it and rendered it unlivable for years. They said they were cleaning it up, but I'm sure they're using it as a cover for something." Gloria was getting aggravated, did she accidentally strike a nerve?

"Wow you're dumber than you look boat girl, but I guess that's the price to pay to not have been indoctrinated since birth. Not like the the bomb that brought about this god forsaken nightmare for billions of people would be known by everybody." Well at least she relieved it with a joke, Iowa thought to herself

"Look, I'm really sorry. I wasn't around back then and I don't know what's going on. Heck, when I woke up this morning I thought the war was still going. But we need all the help we can get if we want any chance of restoring the United States, so please let me help you so we can bring the fight back to the Nazis." Iowa pleaded.

"You got a lot of mouth, and you already showed me you have the bite, so where do you see yourself after today?" Gloria asked after reaching for a bottle under the table.

"Well I was actually planning on heading east to find my sisters, if that's alright with you?"

"Yeah I understand. Well if you do find them, you can find us in Canon city in the neutral zone. But in case you get lost it used to be in Colorado before the Germans and Japanese realized they didn't actually like each other that much."

"Thank you very much, oh and another thing. Do you have any spare oil?"

Several moments later, Iowa came out of one of the hotel rooms dressed in a chestnut bomber jacket, blue jeans and a spare T shirt slightly miffed that all they had was motor oil. She was carrying a mighty stack of boxes as high as she could fit under the doorway. Intel, food, water, ammo, weapons, survivors and etcetera were being stuffed into the back of the vans hidden in the hotel garage. Soon with everyone was ready to bug out and hide until the heat dies down, iowa saw too it to see them off, then Gloria called her to the driver side.

"Hey, before we head off and most likely never see each other again, here's a parting gift. It used to belong to Marcus, but since we need to keep drag down, I thought it would be better in your hands." Before stomping on the gas pedal she handed her a set of keys and told her. "It's parked in the back alleyway. Good luck."

As she left the garage, she noticed a fire ax hanging near the entrance and decided to stow it away, after all there's a lot you can do with a Nazi and a hatchet. Following the brief instructions she went further into the alleyway and found a German built sports car. It was unfamiliar to her but deep down she knew it was a completely different animal than the machines of her time, and that made her giddy with excitement.

She entered the Porsche and slid the keys into the ignition, the engine trembled as she turned it to the right, sending a satisfying vibration throughout the car. "So far so good." she thought to herself. She pressed the accelerator tentatively a few times, taking in the loud roar of the motor. Once she saw a clear path down the alleyway she slammed down hard on the gas pedal and veered onto the road and soon made her way away from the town. She hasn't found Missouri yet, but at least she still knew where to go.

Whether she would find her is still up in the air.


End file.
